Westgate Elementary in Falls Church (Arlington, McLean: apartments, homes, transfer to)

[dandoe123]

Anyone have any opinion regarding Westgate elementary in Falls Church? I've looked the school up on greatschools.com but was hoping to get more opinions from others. Specifically, any opinion on how the school compares to others like Westbriar, Haycock, Stenwood, Marshall, and Shrevewood?

Thanks!

[leighland]

Great schools is no good/inaccurate in Fairfax County

Use the County site and compare schools there

Westgate;
[url=http://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:13:::NO::P0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID,P0_EDSL:075, 0]FCPS - School Profiles - Westgate ES - Demographics[/url]

Stenwood
[url=http://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:13:::NO::P0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID,P0_EDSL:065, 0]FCPS - School Profiles - Stenwood ES - Demographics[/url]

Shrevewood
[url=http://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:13:::NO::P0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID,P0_EDSL:083, 0]FCPS - School Profiles - Shrevewood ES - Demographics[/url]

There are 8 pages of stats and info per school
Plus you can look up school assigments by address

[JD984]

Originally Posted by dandoe123

Anyone have any opinion regarding Westgate elementary in Falls Church? I've looked the school up on greatschools.com but was hoping to get more opinions from others. Specifically, any opinion on how the school compares to others like Westbriar, Haycock, Stenwood, Marshall, and Shrevewood?

Thanks!

Westbriar and Haycock are larger schools that have advanced academic programs that draw students from other schools. Stenwood serves a more affluent area in Vienna/Dunn Loring composed primarily of single-family homes. Westgate is probably more similar to Marshall (Road) and Shrevewood, in that it draws from a mix of single-family homes (in Westgate's case, largely from Pimmit Hills) and apartments (in Westgate's case, near Tysons). I didn't check the statistics, but I would guess that Westgate sees more students come and go (that is, has a higher mobility rate) than the other schools you mentioned. So they'd be used to dealing with newcomers, but there's a greater chance that your kid(s) would make friends who wouldn't be there the next year.

[Pub-911]

It may have a Falls Church mailing address, but Westgate ES is not even close to being in actual Falls Church City. It's a Fairfax County Public School located near Pimmit Hills, Tysons, and McLean. It is part of the same system as the other schools mentioned above. Despite rah-rah from fans of one or another, these schools tend to be more alike than different.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by Pub-911

It may have a Falls Church mailing address, but Westgate ES is not even close to being in actual Falls Church City. It's a Fairfax County Public School located near Pimmit Hills, Tysons, and McLean. It is part of the same system as the other schools mentioned above. Despite rah-rah from fans of one or another, these schools tend to be more alike than different.

Yeah, Falls Church City has its own schools that aren't part of Fairfax County.

One of the elementary schools is located outside the city, though, and Fairfax County has capped its size, which may raise space/capacity issues down the road.

And the FCC high school is much smaller than the high schools in Arlington or Fairfax, so its teams play small high schools in rural counties many miles from the DC area. It's also primarily an IB school and you don't have the same option to transfer to a school that offers a full menu of AP courses like the parents have in the IB schools in Arlington or Fairfax.